Networked Knowledge - Media Report

[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

Mallard v The Queen 2005
Andrew Mallard homepage
Article: Australian law on miscarriages of justice
Article: UK law on miscarriages of justice
Article: USA law on miscarriages of justice

On 31 July 2007 Nicolas Perpitch of News.com / AAP reported “Wrongful conviction inquiry hears of paint match”

He said that paint fragments found in the fatal injuries of a murdered woman exactly matched paint flakes found in the backpack of a suspect in the case, an inquiry was told today. Australia's Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) today began public hearings into the wrongful conviction of Andrew Mallard in November 1995 for the murder of Pamela Lawrence in her Mosman Park jewellery store in 1994.  Mr Mallard's conviction was quashed in 2006 following years of appeals. His name was cleared later last year when a police cold case review found there was sufficient evidence to implicate convicted killer Simon Rochford.

Rochford, who was serving a life sentence for the murder of his girlfriend, committed suicide in May 2006, a week after police questioned him about Ms Lawrence's death. Rochford had used a weights bar, a short wooden stick with a blue-coloured weight clasped on the end, to kill his partner.

In his opening address to the CCC, counsel assisting the commission Jeremy Gormley SC said three blue paint fragments found in Rochford's backpack during the cold case review matched paint fragments found in Ms Lawrence's injuries. "A comparison of the three Prussian blue fragments in the backpack with those in Mrs Lawrence's injuries, produced a match," Mr Gormley told the inquiry. "All the tests supported the proposition that the three fragments from the backpack and the fragments from Mrs Lawrence's skull had a common origin." The murder weapon used in Ms Lawrence's killing was never found, but police concluded the weights bar used in the murder of Rochford's girlfriend created similar injuries to those suffered by Ms Lawrence, Mr Gormley said.

Police also found palm prints and fingerprints at Ms Lawrence's jewellery store that matched Rochford but which were not uncovered by police until 2006. During a police video with Rochford, shown to the inquiry, Rochford denied killing Ms Lawrence and when asked how his prints ended up in her shop, replied:"I have no idea." A final state government compensation payment for Mr Mallard will be determined once the CCC has delivered its findings. The WA Government granted an interim ex gratia payment of $200,000 to Mr Mallard last November. The inquiry continues.

Source: 31 July 2007 Nicolas Perpitch New.com / AAP “Wrongful conviction inquiry hears of paint match”

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